


in the gutter (where i left my lover)

by that_one_urchin



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bi Wynonna Earp, Drinking, Earpcest, F/F, Incest, One Shot, Romantic Soulmates, Short One Shot, Sibling Incest, Soulmates, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 00:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15762879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_one_urchin/pseuds/that_one_urchin
Summary: At four, Waverly knows she is different from the other children. You could show her a box of crayons, ask her to pick out an orange one and she would do it with ease. The rest of her peers would hesitantly pick at the crayons, not able to tell anymore than if one was darker than the other.OrThe Earpcest soulmate AU one shot literally no one asked for.





	in the gutter (where i left my lover)

**Author's Note:**

> Soo, the earpcest tag is always dry and I thought us shippers deserve a good ol’ cheesy soulmate one shot. Here it is y’all!
> 
> (Title inspired by: ‘Bellyache’ by Billie Eilish.)

At four, Waverly knows she is different from the other children. You could show her a box of crayons, ask her to pick out an orange one and she would do it with ease. The rest of her peers would hesitantly pick at the crayons, not able to tell anymore than if one was darker than the other.

Her parents hadn’t taught her the colors as she grew up. There was no reason to, most people who found their soulmates were adults and those that met them earlier were almost always old enough to cross the street by themselves. They must’ve assumed they would only be teaching Waverly different shades of grey. 

She ends up indirectly learning the names of colors from her grandparents anyways. 

They’re a really proper couple. Met during orientation day at college, saw colors bloom all around them the moment they bumped into each other, and dated no one else after that. Waverly is sure they see things the same way she does, not only because they act so happy you’d think they had never seen the wrinkles on their own faces, but because they slip up quite often. 

Edwin would tell Willa to pass the brown rice or ask Wynonna to go pick all the red flowers out of the garden for their Thanksgiving centerpiece. For a while Waverly was confused by her sister’s blank stare at the requests, but hadn’t ever moved to grab the rice or get the flowers herself. 

She doesn’t let her hands budge from their place around her fork. Waverly barely even breathes until her grandfather apologizes and leans far across the table to get the food.

“Sorry girls. Just forgot.” Edwin says and everyone silently goes back to eating. 

———

Sometime before middle school, Waverly goes on a search to find every romantic book or movie she can. Each one explains soulmates differently and some of them are so detailed and beautiful that Waverly aches for the boy she must’ve forgotten and lost in her childhood.

Every book or film has something similar about them. With movies it’s a man standing across the room from a woman who’s extremely out of his league, but crosses the space between them because she can finally see the green in her future lover’s eyes. 

The books are what Waverly likes the most though. They explain the rapid heartbeats and sweaty hands that come along with color, the pure joy of simply being able to grasp another’s hand and know the color of their skin, and every word she reads makes her believe that she should at least remember a small detail about her lost boy. 

Or girl. 

Or alien. 

Or ant on the sidewalk.

It could really be anything. Okay, maybe not an ant but who knows? 

She’s been able to see color for as long as she can remember and she can’t recall the things she did before she reached about age two. All Waverly knows is that since she’s never left her hometown, the person has to live nearby. She doubts her soulmate would’ve moved. It’s basically a rule in Purgatory that you don’t get to leave until you die a mysterious death out in the woods holding whiskey.

God, she hopes her soulmate isn’t out somewhere clutching whiskey.

———

“This isn’t the time for drinking, Wynonna.” Waverly says, warily watching her sister down another gulp of the amber liquid.

“It’s always the time for drinking.”

It feels kind of unfair how cool Wynonna looks doing something so bad. The pale column of her throat is tinted a little pink and her hands shake slightly around the bottle every time she shivers from the cold, but there’s still this air of confidence behind each sip and step she takes. 

Waverly can’t help but wish Wynonna would pass some of that cool on to her, maybe then she wouldn’t be so nervous about breaking into the Gardner’s barn. They’ve done it a hundred times before, Wynonna drags her in here after school to drink or smoke and occasionally shoot B.B. guns at empty beer cans in the hay. 

Still, they are trespassing. 

“Come on Waves. Tucker won’t care, he owes me.” Wynonna explains. She’s already halfway into the barn while Waverly stays outside.

“What does he owe you for?” 

“Things.” Her reply is vague enough that Waverly imagines the worst, but Wynonna holds her hand out so she takes it and steps in anyways.

She’d had this sudden thought that if she were to turn around and walk back to the homestead by herself, she would regret it. Somehow time with Wynonna seems rare and precious, though in reality it was almost always constant and casual.

They walk through the barn together, Waverly trailing behind her older sister. She isn’t sure what they’re doing here. Wynonna doesn’t immediately go to grab the B.B. guns hidden in the corner under the bags of pig feed, so that’s good. Usually they only use those if Wynonna has had a bad day.

Light leaks in through scattered holes in the barns wood. It’s always hot inside there but that day it seemed warmer, possibly because Wynonna made them stop to stand under the heat of the sun. Waverly wonders if Wynonna knows the sun is blinding white with yellow around the edges and that her being under it like that makes her tank top seem slightly orange.

She probably doesn’t. Everything is probably grey for her.

After a moment Wynonna goes over to a ladder leading up to the second floor where they store the majority of the hay. There’s two exits up there, one being down the ladder and the other out the window so if anyone were to come they could make a quick escape. 

Once she puts the cap on, Wynonna shoves the bottle of whiskey into Waverly’s hands then turns and starts climbing.

“For the record, I don’t want to make it a habit that we casually break into people’s homes. You can’t just do that… unless you’re the Kool-Aid man.” Waverly sniffs the bottle experimentally and frowns when it hurts her nose a bit.

“I’ll dress up as him for Halloween if you’ll stop complaining.” Wynonna calls, now hidden by a hay bale. “Throw the whiskey up babygirl.” 

Waverly chucks it up and when she doesn’t hear the sound of glass breaking, she assumes Wynonna caught it.

When she climbs up the bottle is leaning against the wall and Wynonna is digging through their supplies in search of something. Waverly brushes dirt and other things off herself as she waits. They have a spot that has no hay or debris on it, but they haven’t been here in a while so it’s dusty. 

Wynonna crawls back into their little cleared area holding a first aid kit and a pack of cigarettes. She winces twice while trying to open the kit then gives up and inspects her finger. 

“Cut yourself?” Waverly asks. There’s little droplets of crimson along the hay, nothing major. 

“Yeah, on the way up the ladder. Get me one of those blue bandaids, will you.” She tosses the first aid kit to Waverly.

Not thinking much of it, Waverly opens it and finds all the bandaids out of their box and spilled across the very bottom of the kit. She sifts past three princess ones and picks the last blue ninja turtle one out from the collection. 

They’re both silent as Wynonna wraps her finger and Waverly carefully reads the back of the cigarette pack - you know, the part that tells you how terrible they are to smoke. Wynonna is only a freshman in high school, not even fifteen yet, so she isn’t sure how Wynonna has them. She doesn’t ask. 

“Hey, Waves.” Wynonna says.

“Hey Wynonna.” She replies.

“How’d you know which one to choose?” 

Waverly’s quick on her feet. She turns towards her, raises an eyebrow. “How’d you know which one is blue?” 

They both know the answer, there can only be one. They should probably talk and they probably will, except Waverly doesn’t feel like explaining how she found her soulmate and forgot them. She also doesn’t want to hear Wynonna’s - possibly epic - love story about her meeting some attractive guy. 

“Just keep your legs closed.” Wynonna tells her suddenly. “I don’t care if he’s your soulmate, don’t get pregnant until you’re at least twenty-one.” 

“Oh my god.” Waverly buries her head in her hands and groans as Wynonna laughs and lights a cigarette. 

———

Some might say it’s odd how close Wynonna and Waverly are. There’s a six year age difference between them so most would assume Wynonna would be closer to Willa, but they’re both pretty distant from their oldest sister. 

Sometimes Waverly thinks it’s odd too, but for different reasons. She has this need to always be touching Wynonna, whether it be holding her hand or climbing on to her back for a surprise piggyback ride. Wynonna seems to return the need, with her arm almost always slung around Waverly’s shoulders or waist. 

A lot of the time Waverly can pick up on her sister’s next action. She’ll get this tickle on the back of her neck before Wynonna smacks someone or does something totally idiotic. It’s not always bad, sometimes it’s helpful to feel that tickle and know to start making breakfast because Wynonna is going to wake up early. 

There’s also rare moments where Waverly thinks that maybe they shouldn’t be so close, at least not in public. 

There had been one time in the homestead, late in the night when Wynonna had stumbled in drunk and wandered into Waverly’s room. Wynonna did that a lot so Waverly wasn’t fazed when she collapsed on the bed next to her. She had made some joke and then called Wynonna daddy - her father and her sister shared the same drinking habits. 

It was as if some sort of wall had broken between them, because instead of flicking Waverly’s leg or rolling her eyes like she usually would, Wynonna just looked at her. That was all. Two eyes looking into another pair of eyes. 

Yet for a second, the tickle on the back of Waverly’s neck was sure Wynonna would kiss her.

———

“Wynonna?” 

“Yes, Waverly.”

“How old were you when you first saw your soulmate?” 

“Six.” 

“Oh.” 

———

The snow outside the high school is thick and burying the small weeds that used to grow out of the pavement. Everyone shivers their way back to their homes, the roads too caked in snow to drive on. Purgatory is usually cold but winter in the town is a huge kick in the ass, even if it does mean she gets to spend a whole two weeks at home with Wynonna during her break. 

“Over here, Waves.” Nicole is waiting for her when she steps out of the school. 

If Waverly had to make a list of all her favorite people, Nicole would be number two. They’ve been best friends since middle school and probably would’ve dated sometime in junior year if the world were different - if the person you were dating didn’t make you see color, then what was the point. 

Still, Nicole is everything Waverly would want in a soulmate. Funny, kind, strong, and smart enough to figure out how not to dress terribly even without proper color awareness. 

“I have a theory.” Nicole says as they start walking.

Waverly rolls her eyes. “You always do.” 

“What if your soulmate was someone close to you? Or someone you saw on the way home from the hospital? Like what if it was some old nurse or your mom- I read this article about this father and daughter ending up as soulmates. It happens.” 

They stop at a corner. The homestead is to the left and Nicole’s house is to the right, so they have to split up. Waverly mulls over Nicole’s theory in her mind for a bit, she’d thought about it but could never imagine making out with her mom or even one of her distant cousins. 

There’s this thought that pops into her head that says Nicole is right, her soulmate has been with her all along. That thought sucks donkey balls. The only person who’s stayed with her for that long is Wynonna and she already has some secret boyfriend - it’s probably Dolls.

“I feel like it would be sucky if the first thing I saw in color was my mother’s vagina.” Waverly jokes. Nicole’s grin is wide enough that it’s clear she’s forgotten the seriousness of her theory. 

She laughs and starts walking off to the right, away from Waverly. “Yeah. That’d be sucky. Call me later dude!” 

“Will do.” Waverly promises.

———

“It can’t possibly be him.” Waverly whisper-yells, clearly pissed but not wanting anyone outside the room to hear it.

She follows Wynonna into the kitchen. Wynonna goes to the other end of the counter, opposite where Waverly is standing. It’s so small, even though it’s one of the bigger apartments in the building. Tiny or not, Wynonna still tries to keep as much space between them as possible.

Probably because when Waverly is angry she tends to throw things and she’s never been more angry than she is right now. She hadn’t expected it, but hearing Wynonna telling their family that some guy with a ridiculously thick mustache is her soulmate set Waverly off. 

“Well, he is. So you’re going to have to get over it and be happy for me really quick, babygirl. I’m not in the mood for this.” Wynonna opens several drawers, pulls out sets of forks and knives and spoons for their celebration. 

It doesn’t feel much like a celebration. Wynonna isn’t even smiling. 

“No he isn’t.” Waverly insists.

Something breaks. Not literally, Wynonna is strangely gentle with the silverware in her hands. It seems like she snaps - puts everything down on the counter silently and breathes hard through her nose as she does it - and for a moment, Waverly thinks she’s going to get yelled at. 

Wynonna does everything but yell. One second Waverly is watching her, the next she blinks and all she can see is Wynonna’s chin because she’s so close. They both forget the upcoming meal. 

“How do you know?” Wynonna asks.

“How do I-“ 

“Doc. How do you know we aren’t…” She trails off and Waverly raises her eyes to Wynonna’s, preparing to respond to a question she doesn’t know the answer to.

She just knows, she just knows. There’s no tickle on the back of her neck helping, instead it’s her whole body working together and her body is saying that Doc can go fuck himself. 

Waverly surged forward. It’s kind of messy and awkward at first, mostly because Wynonna is taken almost completely off guard. Her mind works on autopilot, tells her to reach out and run her thumbs over the nape of Wynonna’s neck. She’s glad she listens to her brain. Wynonna settles into the kiss easily.

It’s realization at its finest. (Side note: realization is warm, wet, wild, and tastes faintly of maple syrup and alcohol.) 

They don’t pull apart until someone from the other room calls their names. 

———

The rest of the night goes like this: Waverly and Wynonna get through the rest of the dinner with minimal conversation and dark, crimson blushes whenever their hands so much as brush. Their knees bump under the table too many times to be accidental and each time they do, Waverly feels a shock up her leg she hasn’t gotten since high school. 

After dinner, Waverly goes home. She sits in bed, wide awake with her fingertips pressed to her bottom lip like an excited child. There’s no way she can predict what will come in the future, but she knows about her past. 

There was no lost boy, alien, or ant. There was just Wynonna, who changed her view on life the second she was carried into the homestead and continues to ever since.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if there’s any spelling mistakes, it’s like 3 am and my eyes are tired. Let me know if you liked it :)


End file.
